Daily Encouragement Net
A daily, Bible-based message of hope and encouragement. A daily, Bible-based message of hope, encouragement and exhortation. Click here to support our ministry.The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber. <Previous Message · Archive edition Thursday, August 29, 2013 "And God said, 'Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.' And it was so. God called the dry ground 'land,' and the gathered waters He called 'seas.' And God saw that it was good" (Genesis 1:9,10). "And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty” (Matthew 13:23). Thank you, God, for water, soil and air,large gifts supporting everything that lives. Yesterday we took a tour of the "Cramer Posie Patch", a 90 acre commercial flower grower right around the bend from our house. This is the same farm where our Amish friends, Jesse and Anna Ruth used to live, before they moved back to their home farm seven years ago. The operation sells fresh cut and dried flowers to wholesalers. Their flowers are sold all along the east coast from Washington to Boston; the kind of flowers you see at florists or sold on the streets of major cities. They grow a wide variety including celosias, dahlias, hydrangeas, tansies, lizianthus, lavendar and much, much more. Lancaster has some of the best soil in the world. An area east of Ephrata is especially famed and has the reputation of being the "Garden Spot". Soil varies in quality but almost any soil will provide a growing medium of some type assuming other conditions such as climate and elevation are suitable for growing. Today let us consider the blessing of soil which is one of those things we give little to no attention to! The first daily text is a record of Creation events on the Third Day. On this day the dry ground (soil) appeared followed by vegetation. Wherever you live, unless we have readers in the polar regions or extremely high elevations, you can see evidence of this divine work, even in concrete covered cities. We both like working with soil. I do the yard work and Brooksyne works with the flowers and vegetables. Our neighbor is enlarging his kitchen and has a large pile of soil from digging out for the foundation. It will be removed at a cost so the contractor is pleased that I take as much as I can use. We have some low spots on our property as well as some damage to the lawn from Mollie so I have been loading our garden cart and transferring the soil for several days now when I have an opportunity. It is such good soil some of it seems like potting soil! I wonder how often we thank God for soil? Much of what we eat is in one way or another related to this gift from God. But on a spiritual note today Jesus contrasted four different types of soil conditions in one of His parables, "The Parable Of The Sower". Jesus taught that we are to be like the good soil that "yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty" (Matthew 13:8). Jesus explained this parable and the seed that fell on the good soil "is the man who hears the Word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty" (Matthew 13:23). Good soil is a blessing in agriculture, home gardening, and in the heart that "hears the Word and understands it". May the Lord help us all to have hearts that are like the good soil! Be encouraged today, Stephen & Brooksyne Weber Daily prayer: Father, we thank You for soil, one of Your great creations from the very beginning that we simply take for granted. We want to be like the good soil mentioned in the Parable of the Sower; the one that hears the Word, absorbs its message and understands its meaning and as a result brings forth an abundance of fruit; the kind that has lasting eternal value such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. Just like water, soil and air produce good vegetation, so also the Bible, prayer, and worship produce godliness in the believer. May we faithful in doing our part. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. More photos of the Cramers' Posie Patch Several kinds of Celosia flowers (commonly referred to as Cockscomb) Our house is only about 200 yards behind where we were standing when the photos was taken. These fields had been planted in corn for the first several years we lived here. Many hydrangea flowers were massive in size. Many colors of dahlias sitting in the refrigerated room prepared to be shipped. The refrigerated area for fresh flowers is in the former dairy barn along with offices in the front. Refrigerated sunflowers also preparing to be shipped. Cockscomb being hung to dry in the tobacco barn basement. Flowers drying in former tobacco barn. Dried flower arrangements being boxed for shipping. We watched to workers preparing the flowers. Dried Flower Wreath (These were stunning) The owner of the farm has an interesting hobby, restoring old cars. This old Crosley is obviously awaiting transformation. Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources "Break Thou the Bread of Life" Video Light and Life Hour Choir "Speak O Lord" Video Kristyn Getty "All Creatures Of Our God And King" Video Maranatha Hymns Cramers' Posie Patch website is located here (google map) Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne. |
(Click on photo to enlarge) "We want to encourage you daily in your walk with Christ!" Personal Ministry Update (Revised 12/31/12) Are our daily encouragement messages a blessing to you? Each weekday morning Brooksyne and I prepare these messages and distribute them at no cost to you and many others all over the world. We ask you to consider an offering to Daily Encouragement Net so that we can continue to prepare and provide this daily resource which is accessed by believers and seekers all over the world. Daily Encouragement Net relies solely on the generosity and financial support of its readers and podcast listeners. See here for more information on supporting this ministry. Gifts are tax deductible. Click here to donate online. 2013 YTD financial offerings to Daily Encouragement Net as of 8/28/13: $13,418.00 SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION These messages are never sent by us unsolicited. It was sent to you because you either signed up to receive it OR it was forwarded to you. You can also subscribe to the Wordpress rss feed or as an email subscription through Wordpress email subscription. (See the email subscription on the right side after opening this page.) Cancel: These messages are only sent from us to people who request it; please accept our apologies if it reached you in error. You can unsubscribe from this list at any time. If you no longer desire to receive these messages you can remove your address from the list by merely using the link automatically inserted by the mailing list software at the very bottom of each email message. (To change addresses cancel your old address and then join again using your new address.) Weekly Version: The weekly version is intended for those who may not check their email regularly or who may desire less frequent mailings. It is Friday's message with a link to previous messages. To receive the free weekly version, send a blank email to this address. Daily Encouragement on Facebook and Twitter: The daily message and prayer on Facebook. The daily message and prayer on Twitter. Reader Survey: Please take a few minutes to assist us in improving our ministry effectiveness by filling out this online reader survey. To take the survey click here. Please feel free to pass these messages on! Our other blogs: "A Daily Prayer" - A blog simply posting the daily prayer. We keep this up each day since it's merely the prayer from the Daily Encouragement Net message! "A Little Foolishness" - Humor/satire blog (a great outlet for non-serious writing but at times with a subtle message!) (Note: This material is satire!) "Clear Minded" - Longer, periodic articles on specific issues impacting the faithful believer and church. (Actually this is my intent but I haven't done much with it!) "Hymns of Hope" - Brooksyne along with two friends made a CD using classic hymns. Brooksyne tells the background story of the 11 hymns. All of these songs are also available for download on the site. Personal Mission Statement "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and I make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and to prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity." How to become a child of God Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version. Other versions are also occasionally used. © Copyright 2013 Stephen C. Weber - All Rights Reserved Endorsed chaplain "Living securely today anchored in God's solid foundation" www.dailyencouragement.net |
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